ramblings of an electronic engineer.

Honestly Pi day this year sneaked up on me and I was only reminded by a few promotions from electronic distributors in my inbox this morning. Unlike previous years I don’t really have anything special planned in order to celebrate, however I can say that over the past few years doing work in acoustics and electronic design my appreciation for the mathematical constant has increased greatly.

I absolutely love the Bethsaidas Fallout franchise having fond memories wandering around the wastelands of Fallout 3 many years ago and nowadays the epic Fallout 4 landscapes. Since playing the game for the first time I always remember having an affinity towards the futuristic energy weapons that appeared in the game. These were typically powered by either energy cells or for higher powered weapons, microfusion cells.

I have a few projects in the pipeline that require weathering applied to them so in order to practice I found a microfusion cell model off Thingiverse then went to town printing it and applying the base coat paint layers. To weather the part I got out some acrylic paints and mixed up some black and brown/dirt tones thereafter diluting them with a little water. With a rag on hand I applied the paint over various parts of the model then wiped off most of it leaving some of it in the cracks and crevices.

The detailing of the prop was applied by stenciling off the part with painters tape then spray painting with the appropriate colours. This step is where I failed in some regards by not checking any reference material for the decals on the game models but kinda making it up as I went along. So I wouldn’t say this prop is a 100% replica but nevertheless I’m particularly happy with how it turned out in the end. Should I remake this model I’d definitely look into creating a water slide decal to apply to the prop.

So looking at this year I plan to more or less keep on going with the goals I set last year for this blog, that is: sharing work on projects, reviewing books, posting a few blog series and sharing photos I have squirreled away on my hard drives. In particular when it comes to projects I’m putting more emphasis on working them through to completion and reducing the already large pile I currently have on my plate. So far it’s going pretty well with a few out of the way which I’ll write up in the near future. I’m also wanting to put more time towards working on more electronic design projects as my professional work is currently geared to more mechanical work than electrical. I guess we shall see how the year pans out 🙂

I suppose this is also a good time to announce I’m off to Japan later this year. Come the last week of June my sister and myself are flying off to Narita then travelling around for 16 days visiting Hiroshima, Onomichi, Osaka, Kyoto, Kawaguchiko, Mt Fuji and Tokyo! I hope the trip goes all smoothly and I look forward to experiencing Japanese culture and scenery.

Ever since the first trailers for the new starwars movie I was very excited for the new droid BB-8. A little after joining the BB-8 Builders Club Facebook group (which is one of the best groups I’ve ever been a part of) member Henrik Lorentzen posted a really cool Lego BB-8 build to the group along with assembly instructions. 2 weeks later and 5 parcels from bricklink later this guy was then sitting on my desk. 😀

Henrik also happens to have this model listed on Lego Ideas so it has a chance of been made into an official kit which is really cool. Upon writing this small build up I also found out that a second revision of the kit has been released with a few extra bits to make the model posable. I might be up for another order of parts soon 😛

The Brickman Experience is an LEGO expedition showcasing the works of Australia’s only certified LEGO professional, Ryan McNaught which had previously exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney. Hearing that it was going to be exhibited at Brisbane end of last year I (and one of my work colleagues) decided to head down after work and check it out. As it turned out heading to it in the afternoon for the last session of the day (90 min sessions) was a really good idea since there were very few people at the session and even fewer as more left leaving lot of uninterrupted space to take photos of the models. Enjoy.

My final day in Sydney was spent for the most part back at the Powerhouse Museum going through the various exhibits on display and revisiting maker faire once again. Once I was finished with the powerhouse I headed up Sydney Tower Eye to have a final look at the city before catching my flight back home. Here are a selection of photos from the day.